Last week we lost an amazing friend at the zoo, Towan the orangutan. If you’re a regular at the Woodland Park Zoo (WPZ) or just an occasional visitor, you probably interacted with or saw him. I loved his interactions with kids. Adults? Meh, sometimes. But kids often seemed to get his attention. As much as he was a part of the WPZ and the Seattle area, his personality became world-wide famous with the reboot of the Planet of the Apes franchise. Actress Karin Konoval used Towan as her inspiration for Maurice in the films.
At 48 years old Towan was the oldest make orangutan in North America. Towan is survived by his twin sister Chinta, daughter Belawan, son Heran, and the mother of Belawan and Heran, Melati.
Does anyone have any thoughts or pictures of Towan to share? I can’t find any good pictures that I’ve taken of him. There is a button to upload a photo in the comments section.
I wanted to say nice post. Towan was wonderful friend at the zoo. The website appears new. I hope you continue.
Thank you.
Tess
As we have just recently moved to the area, we saw him a few times…..and our daughter loved “the BIG monkey”. Sorry for his loss. We were so looking forward to more visits with him.